1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to Internet facsimile machines and, more particularly, to an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected to an Internet service provider via a leased line and provided with a function of exchanging electronic mail data over the local area network and over the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data via a public switched telephone network using a facsimile transmission protocol.
2. Description of the Related Art.
Recently, the widespread availability of the Internet introduced the use of Internet facsimile machines. Internet facsimile machines enable terminals, forming respective local area networks and connected to the Internet by connecting the local area network to an Internet service provider via a leased line, to exchange image information in the form of electronic mail over the Internet.
Some Internet facsimile machines are provided with communication means for communication over the public switched telephone network or an ISDN so as to enable communication with a destination machine connected to the public switched telephone network.
While Internet facsimile machines according to the related art allow peer terminals to exchange data over the Internet and are also capable of exchanging image information with ordinary facsimile machines over the public switched telephone network, the user has to specify, through a manual operation, whether the Internet or the public switched telephone network is to be used. For this purpose, the user has to know whether the destination terminal is connected to the Internet or the public switched telephone network.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide Internet facsimile machines in which the aforementioned problem is eliminated.
Another and more specific object is to provide an Internet facsimile machine in which flexibility of image information communication is significantly improved.
Still another object is to provide an Internet facsimile machine in which a transmission operation is simplified.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: subaddress information table means for storing subaddress information received according to the facsimile transmission procedure and mail addresses of the Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined to a terminal associated with the subaddress, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding mail address; mail address retrieving means for searching the subaddress information table means to retrieve the mail address that corresponds to the subaddress received according to the facsimile transmission procedure; and repeater operation requesting means for requesting the Internet facsimile machine associated with the mail address retrieved by the mail address retrieving means to repeat received image information to the terminal associated with the subaddress, by sending an electronic mail message to the Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: subaddress information table means for storing subaddress information received according to the facsimile transmission procedure, repeater mail addresses of the Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined to a terminal associated with the subaddress, and destination mail addresses of the Internet facsimile machines designated as a destination, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding repeater mail address or the corresponding destination mail address; mail address retrieving means for searching the subaddress information table means to retrieve one of the repeater mail address and the destination mail address that corresponds to the subaddress received according to the facsimile transmission procedure; repeater operation requesting means for requesting, when the repeater mail address is retrieved by the mail address retrieving means, the Internet facsimile machine associated with the repeater mail address retrieved by the mail address retrieving means to repeat received image information to the terminal associated with the subaddress, by sending an electronic mail message to the Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address; and transmitting means for transmitting, when the destination mail address is retrieved by the mail address retrieving means, the received image information to the Internet facsimile machine associated with the destination mail address retrieved by the mail address retrieving means, by sending an electronic mail message to the Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved destination mail address.
According to the aforementioned aspects of the invention, the communication cost is reduced significantly for image information transmission from a facsimile machine connected to the international PSTN to an overseas destination by causing a first repeater Internet facsimile machine installed in the same country as the transmitting machine to perform a repeater operation for transferring the image information to a second repeater Internet facsimile machine installed in the same country as the recipient machine. The cost is reduced because no additional communication charge is incurred for the image information transfer between the repeater Internet facsimile machines.
Further, a facsimile machine connected to the international PSTN is enabled to request a repeater operation, designating any Internet facsimile machine as a final destination. Thus, flexibility of the Internet facsimile machine is significantly improved.
By forming the destination telephone number as part of the message body of an electronic mail message of a multipart MIME type, information necessary for requesting a repeater operation can be sent in an appropriate manner, thus making facsimile information transmission convenient.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, and telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number; determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user input is registered in said destination management information storage means; Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address as a destination mail address of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine via the local area network over the Internet; and public network transmission for originating, when said determining means yields a negative answer, a call to a destination terminal associated with the specified destination telephone number using the public network, and for transmitting the image information to the destination terminal in accordance with a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeaters operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number; determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user input is registered as one of the end terminal telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means; Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting the specified destination telephone number in a Subject field of the header information of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet; reception means for receiving electronic mail; and reverse conversion means for subjecting the message body data of a received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce image information, when one of the end terminal telephone numbers is set in the Subject field of the header information of the received electronic mail message; forwarding means for originating a call to the end terminal associated with the end terminal telephone number found in the Subject field, using a public network, so as to transmit the image information reproduced by said reverse conversion means to the end terminal.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeater operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number; determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user input is registered as one of the telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means; Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting a predetermined fixed value in a Subject field of the header information of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet; reception means for receiving electronic mail; and outputting means for subjecting, when said predetermined fixed value is set in the Subject field of the header information of a received electronic mail message, the message body data of the received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce image information, for decoding the reproduced image information into original image data, and for recording and outputting an image constructed by said image data.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeater operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number; determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user input is registered as one of the end terminal telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means; Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting the specified destination telephone number in a predetermined area of a message body of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet; reception means for receiving electronic mail; reverse conversion means for subjecting the message body data of a received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce image information, when one of the end terminal telephone numbers is set in said predetermined area of the message body of the received electronic mail message; and forwarding means for originating a call to the end terminal associated with the end terminal telephone number found in said predetermined area of the message body, using a public network, so as to transmit the image information reproduced by said reverse conversion means to the end terminal.
The aforementioned objects can also be achieved by an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, comprising: destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeater operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number; determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user input is registered as one of the telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means; Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting a predetermined fixed value in a predetermined area of a message body of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet; reception means for receiving electronic mail; and outputting means for subjecting, when said predetermined fixed value is set in said predetermined area of the message body of a received electronic mail message, the message body data of the received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce image information, for decoding the reproduced image information into original image data, and for recording and outputting an image constructed by said image data.
According to these aspects of the invention, the Internet is used to transmit image information to an Internet facsimile machine installed at a remote location. Since the Internet requires no additional communication charge, the communication cost is significantly reduced.
By transmitting image information to a facsimile machine at a remote location with the benefit of a repeater operation provided by an Internet facsimile machine close to the facsimile machine, the communication cost for facsimile transmission to an ordinary facsimile machine is significantly reduced.
Since a request for or cancellation of a repeater operation can be specified by the data content set in the Subject field, no special process for decoding an electronic mail message is necessary. A simple feature provided by the invention enables selection between the repeater operation and the recording and outputting of received image information.
Information such as specification of a repeater operation can be sent in the form of message body data of an electronic mail message of a multipart MIME type, a highly flexible transmission operation is possible.
By reporting a result of transmission of image information in the form of electronic mail to the transmitting machine, the transmitting machine learns the result of transmission set by itself appropriately. With this, the convenience of communication management is greatly improved.
The user can configure each Internet facsimile machine so as to request or cancel Internet transmission and also can configure each image information transmission so as to request or cancel Internet transmission. Thus, the user can arbitrary request or cancel image information transmission using the Internet, depending on his or her need.